»Album Reviews: Precap 2010
by Joshua Krage

So as you may have surmised, the Album Review department pretty much took the month of January off, part for vacation, part for the traditional post-Xmas lack of music news. Don’t think, however, that we haven’t been keeping an eye on the store — we’ve still got plenty of that new music goodness on our shelves, and have assembled the backlog of not only this week, but the last four as well. Dig in, enjoy and do let us know if we missed any:

January 5th

The Cranberries live
Findlay Brown
Ke$ha
Katharine McPhee
Kanye West – Storytellers

January 12th

Diane Birch – iTunes Live Session
Jason Boesel
Nick Cave / Warren Ellis – The Road OST
Manu Chao live
Elvis Costello live

VA/Dengue Fever, Dengue Fever Presents: Electric Cambodia – an interesting and rare peek into a cross-section of Southeast Asian rock/folk fusion culture from the ’60s and ’70s, presented by a marvelous modern LA band with a serious jones for updating that sound.

Final Fantasy
T-Model Ford
Kathy Griffin DVD
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Charlie Hunter
Van Morrison
O.A.R.
OCR – The Lion King
OkGo
Omarion
OST – The Book of Eli
OST – Fame
Polysics
Ringo Starr

Vampire Weekend, Contra – not quite so Afro-pop influenced this time around, but the Ivy League indie icons serve up plenty of lush arrangements and light, cuddly snark on their second offering.

Laura Veirs – July Flame
Ween
VA/Capitol Records – “10 Great Songs” comps by big-name artists

January 19th

Aziz Ansari
Danny Barnes
Cold War Kids – Behave Yourself EP

Editors, In This Light and On This Evening – stateside release of third LP from UK deep-mooded post-punks and Interpol contemporaries. Some fine atmospheric and overcast grooves, all colored in muted tones by singer Tom Smith’s deep, fatalistic tenor.

Eels, End Times – a less thematic but strongly cohesive new set of songs, a mere seven months after his last excellent effort. A more lo-fi, low-key, and reflective tone peppers Mr. Everett’s tunes here but with a few barn-burners to liven up the works here and there, even getting “E” to stand for Elvis on one number. This guy’s still staying under the mainstream radar but is making the best work of his career.

Jethro Tull
Dawn Landes
Sonny Landreth – Mississippi Blues reissue
Motion City Soundtrack

RJD2, The Colossus – if you need reminding why this DJ is an underground staple, thankfully this LP is a solid reminder. Wisely ditching the idea of singing a lot, RJ sticks to what he’s best at: combining a deep back catalog of vintage samples with thick, danceable hip-hop beats and other odds and ends. Bonus collab with some high-end vocalists like the superb Kenna thicken up the mix as well.

Joey Ryan, Kenter Canyon EP – such a great, understated singer/songwriter out of the greater Los Angeles area, this willowy and soft-spoken crooner has written some of the catchiest tunes I’ve heard over the last few years, and this EP is but a taste of his compositional prowess. The real treat on most of these tracks is to see how his ear for production has matured — and bonus guest spots from Sara Bareilles and The Like’s Z Berg are but one of many highlights here.

Spoon

Surfer Blood, Astro Coast – the best kind of power-pop band, just getting off their feet on this debut album and coming off like indie beach bards. They come loaded with lots of reverb’d-out vocal harmonies, big drums, tight and hooky choruses, and a bevy of lo-fi guitars covering the surf/garage/punk landscape. Bonus for name checking some David Lynch. Call it Indie, Walk With Me.

Gretchen Wilson – hits

January 26th

AFCTG
Animal Collective

Beach House, Teen Dream – the serene, psychedelic indie hybrid duo out of Baltimore get their third LP out in style and amid a huge blog buzz that’s been building since last spring. Dark, alluring textures (courtesy of composer Alex Scally) and hazy, hypnotic vocals (courtesy of songstress Victoria Legrand) combine for a sort of happy, psychotic dichotomy, like listening to Edith Piaf sing the Beach Boys during an eclipse. This is a good thing.

David Bowie live
Basia Bulat
Buraka Som Sistema
Celtic Woman
Citay
Clipd Beaks
Day of Fire
Joe Firstman
Four Tet
Fozzy
Fucked Up

Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck, IRM – oh boy.  Her last album was produced (and largely composed) by French synth-ambient masters Air, and this followup finds Serge’s talented progeny teaming up with alt savant Beck for a trip further down the rabbit hole. Mr. Hansen handles most of the composition on this album, resulting in a wide array of styles, all delivered in trademark left-of-center fashion, with Charlotte’s breathy, understated vocals hanging in the air like a heavy wind current, gusting or lowing to suit tempo. Really interesting stuff, with a great mix of quirky electronic runners, acoustic textures, and lush atmosphere.

Patty Griffin
Hello Goodbye – DVD
Harvey Milk
Home
Yuka Honda
Whitney Houston
Michael Jackson – This Is It DVD
Joan of Arc
Kidz Bop 17
Los Campesinos!
Lostprophets
Robert Lowe
Pat Metheny
My Brightest Diamond – remixes
Youssou N’Dour – I Bring What I Love OST
Never Shout Never
Number One Gun
Oh No Ono
Owl City – 2CD deluxe
Pit Er Pat
Corinne Bailey Rae
Retribution Gospel Choir
David Sanborn
Michael Schenker – instrumentals
Scanners
Neil Sedaka

February 2nd

Christina Aguilera – hits
Album Leaf
Apparatjik (supergroup feat. members of A-Ha, Mew, Coldplay)
Bob Blank
Dommin
Nick Jonas (& the Administration)
Lil’ Wayne
Malachai
Mavis
Midlake
New Kids on the Block DVD
Nneka
Pierced Arrow
Priestess
Joe Satriani – Live in Paris
The Soft Pack
Toro Y Moi
Vedera
Rob Zombie

We’ll be back next week at full speed, with new stuff out from Massive Attack, Hot Chip, Sade, and the new Yeasayer LP. Say “Yea!”

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To view past reviews, visit our archives.

In the video, a little man-boy who is also a werewolf helps a woman find her lost frog. The quest turns into what could be presumed to be a first date, given the song’s lyrical content. And if this rendezvous really is a date, then this woman would also be a cougar (and a pedophile, which is bad) and that leads to all sorts of interspecies copulation jokes. And also other inappropriate jokes. Which then leads me to ask: Where the hell are this kid’s parents?

HOMBRE LOBO is currently available via E Works/Vagrant Records.

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For more information on the EELS, visit them on MySpace or at EELStheband.com.

»Album Reviews For Release Date: 06.02.09
by Joshua Krage

These next few months will be a bit stripped-down on the old mewsic blog here, on account of summer, and all the wonderful paying gigs that brings to me and my guitar around the Sacramento area. Thus, while the lists themselves will remain wonderfully robust with names, the actual reviewing may be somewhat lean compared to other times of the year. And with that, on to the reviewing:

Ryan Bingham

Diane Birch, Bible Belt – a well-churched piano player and breathtaking singer possessed of a sweet songbird lilt with commanding range with striking shades of gospel, soul, and classic-era singer-songwriters. A serious Carole King silhouette is hanging in the background of a lot of these tracks in a master-craft sort of way, from the backing vocals to the melody placement to the horn arrangements, it all melts together like a love story set to music.

Blind Pilot
Butterfly Boucher

Jeff Buckley, Grace: Live Around the World DVD/CD – he was the last artist to really move me from all angles: the songwriting, the singing, the stagecraft, the interpretation, and especially the guitar playing – equally comfortable inhabiting a Nina Simone ballad as blasting a full-volume rock spectacle, just as potent and commanding with only a microphone as with a full band. We just passed the 12th anniversary of his tragic passing, and I’m so, so happy there is still material like this in the vault so we can continue discovering how great a talent he was…

Cavo

Elvis Costello, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane – an all-star country/folk/bluegrass cast in a total record time of three days? And it doesn’t suffer for the rush? T-Bone Burnett’s steady hand helped sculpt a barn-burner here, and you’ll be hearing it at Starbucks as they are its distributor…

Crash Kings, Crash Kings – hard-edged piano-pop/rock, akin to Cold War Kids without their guitar, and newly-championed by Zach Braff so you’ll no doubt be hearing about them somewhere soon…

Crosby, Stills & Nash – demos
Jonny Diaz
Drop Dead, Gorgeous

EELS, Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire – nobody can even reach the unique, cathartic craziness of the sonic real estate that Mark Oliver Everett inhabits, and every album he produces builds a brand new house on that land. This body of work is a 12-song examination of stripped-down animal instincts and raw emotion, starting in with visceral bravado and slowly peeling away the layers to a heart laid bare with yearning. Quite a range, and expertly, affectingly executed.

Emery
Rick Estrin & the Nightcats – I got to film these guys on our morning show a few weeks back! Personal connection, score!
Franz Ferdinand – latest LP Tonight dubbified, remixed, and renamed Blood. I’m awaiting the new single “No Jah Girls Nevah No” any day now…

Girl In a Coma, Trio B.C. – this 3-pack of Mex-American twang-punk rock chicas was one of my favorite discoveries of 2007, mostly due to their placement on Joan Jett’s Blackheart label and singer/guitarist Nina Diaz’ heady, Smiths-indebted scream-croon. Packing serious muscle and a better variety of flavors this time around, I found just as much to love about this album as I did in their debut.

Iwrestledabearonce, It’s All Happening – surprisingly muscular metal causing quite a buzz in the indie rock community. Extreme double-bass-pedal drumming, crazy prog shifts, scream-core female vocals, and a guitar flurry of two-finger tapping make this band not suitable for those with weak hearts. Consult your doctor before listening.

J Dilla
Dave Matthews Band
New Riders of the Purple Sage
Christy Nockels

Paolo Nutini, Sunny Side Up – my favorite Italian-pedigreed Scottish singer-songwriter, his debut had a broguish blue-eyed soul matched in quality by the strength of the songwriting, and this follow-up only improves on all aspects. Produced by Ethan Johns, there’s a sun-drenched ’70s soul sound permeating these tracks, from the string arrangements to the spirit-uplifting organ beds, and Nutini’s nuanced, sandpaper growl has grown up a bit as well. Great sophomore LP, and at this rate he’ll be a serious stateside contender in no time.

Iggy Pop
Rancid
Simple Minds – yes, a new one. They’re still alive and kicking. You didn’t, erm, forget about them, did you?
Soul Made Visible
The Sounds
Taking Back Sunday
311
Unladylike
Various artists, Well Hung – a compilation of communist-era vintage Hungarian early psych/prog/rock bands of the late 60′s and 70′s. I’m not making this up.
Vanessa Williams

OK, I got songs to go get learned, so I’ll see you next week with some of the best (and/or most interesting) music coming out all year. Ciao, baby.

P.S. Enjoy a sampling from this week’s new songs on my MySpace page. It’s updated pretty much weekly now…

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To view past reviews, visit our archives.

“I didn’t want to write a bunch of blatantly autobiographical songs about a lonely old indie rocker, so I thought it would be more interesting if it came from this character,” says Mark Oliver Everett, the man who makes up EELS, in regards to the nature of HOMBRE LOBO.

This new album features twelve songs that come from the point of view of a man struggling with his inner self. That’s a battle we’ve all been a part of, therefore I’m sure it’s an album that we can all connect to in one way or another. The track arrangement of HOMBRE LOBO takes turns that you can’t legally make on the expressway. In some tracks, the character that Everett has produced for us, takes us on rides where he’s looking for his own ways around life, and in other instances, he turns to his natural instincts to guide him through his journey. There are so many forks in the road along the way that you just hope you don’t end up alone in the end.

Everett says that this album is about “what steers you to want to not be alone,” and how at times, “your instincts [can] become unbearable.” Well, we’ll help out your inner-instincts just this one time. Don’t fight the urge to stream HOMBRE LOBO for free on EELS’ MySpace page from now until it releases on Tuesday.

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For more information on the EELS, visit them on MySpace or at EELStheband.com.

If you’re not good at waiting, the EELS are either hoping to ease your sense of urgency or make you lose your mind– we’re not really sure. Either way, the band have released the album cover and complete track listing of Hombre Lobo.

Arriba.

Courtesy of eelstheband.com:

01 prizefighter
02 that look you give that guy
03 lilac breeze
04 in my dreams
05 tremendous dynamite
06 the longing
07 fresh blood
08 what’s a fella gotta do
09 my timing is off
10 all the beautiful things
11 beginner’s luck
12 ordinary man

For more information on the EELS, visit them on MySpace or at EELStheband.com.